Hi Kip - for clarification -
my understanding of the faces-vase picture is that (for me)
the gestalt of the ambiguity of the
faces-vase picture is being able to see and hold both-and -
not reduce them to either or - just as two genders are not irreducible to a
binary of either-or, superior or subordinate. I agree that we do need to be
watchful for the either-or because it is endemic in traditional language
thinking, logic - even vision? Perhaps a challenge is developing new ways
of conceptualising and performing that become comfortable with not knowing -
for the possibility of infinite differences - beginning with
both wave and particle ...
or as a start getting comfortable
with being uncomfortable?
Slainte
Zoë
>From: Kip Jones <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Performative Social Science <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: On Ambiguity
>Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 13:51:05 +0100
>
>I am watchful of definitions (for ambiguity, for
>example) which are either/or. Better, all of the
>above.
>
>If you look for a binary, you will find one (faces or
>a vase; male or female). Suddenly, we are counting
>again, dividing the 'evidence',then evaluating it.
>Back where we started from?
>
>Cheers,
>Kip
>
>
>--- Zoë Fitzgerald-Pool <[log in to unmask]>
>wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> > Keats thought that he discovered ambiguous thinking
> > - and the term 'negative
> > capability' was coined, but my own hunch that there
> > is something of
> > power/gender at play in the irritable reaching after
> > external facts and
> > measurable reason. How big is yours etcetera?
> >
> > In my research study I am also exploring ambiguity
> > in states of awareness in
> > therapeutic contexts, and I am employing ambiguous
> > images - beginning with
> > Edgar Rubin's ambiguous faces/vase picture.
> > I am fascinated by the power within ambiguity and
> > states of not knowing. One
> > of my favourite quotes is from the Tao te Ching -
> > 'Thirty spokes around the hub
> > In its nothingness is the wheel's effectiveness.
> > The potter hollows out the clay to fashion the pot
> > In its emptiness is the pot's effectiveness'
> >
> > I have been much influenced in my work by Milton
> > Erickson's ambiguous word
> > play - who pioneered ambiguity and not-knowing in
> > the service of the client
> > - very effectively 'as your unconscious mind knows
> > much much more than your
> > conscious mind, as your conscious mind does not even
> > know how much it
> > does'nt know'.
> > Look forwards to hearing others' views on this
> > topic!
> > Slainte
> > Zoë Fitzgerald-Pool
> >
> >
> >
> > Zoë Fitzgerald-Pool
> >
> >
> > >From: Sabi Redwood <[log in to unmask]>
> > >Reply-To: Performative Social Science
> > <[log in to unmask]>
> > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > >Subject: Re: On Ambiguity
> > >Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 13:10:39 +0100
> > >
> > >Thank you, Kip.
> > >
> > >I like your concept of ambiguity as method (even
> > for textual
> > >representations of research) because I am tired of
> > the current rage to
> > >close down possibilities for interpretation so that
> > we can produce
> > >'findings', which can be pinned down even more
> > securely through the
> > >metasyntheses of many findings followed by
> > systematic evaluations. It robs
> > >readers of their agency to read and think, and
> > turns them into passive
> > >recipients of bite-size knowledge. These practices
> > do not stimulate or
> > >educate, they simply stupefy. I would argue that
> > such practices are
> > >ethically dubious. Ambiguity has the potential to
> > leave things open for
> > >other, maybe even competing, interpretations which
> > is more likely to enable
> > >readers to agree, disagree, or come up with other
> > interpretations. Readers/
> > >viewers/ listeners become authors instead of being
> > relieved of their
> > >responsibility to decide.
> > >
> > >Sabi
> > >
> > >
> > >Sabi Redwood
> > >Senior Lecturer
> > >Institute of Health & Community Studies
> > >Bournemouth University
> > >
> > >________________________________
> > >
> > >From: Performative Social Science on behalf of Kip
> > Jones
> > >Sent: Fri 06/04/2007 10:38
> > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > >Subject: On Ambiguity
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >I participated in the AHRC Consultation Exercise on
> > >the forthcoming 'Beyond Text: Sounds, Voices,
> > Images
> > >and Objects' programme of research
> >
> >(http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/apply/research/sfi/ahrcsi/beyond_text_sounds_voices_images_objects.asp
> > >) held at the Royal Society of Art in London last
> > >week.
> > >
> > >The word of the day was 'ambiguity'. The audience
> > >collectively responded to it with great collective
> > >warmth and a sense of shared familiarity. I like
> > this
> > >as a concept for PSS. To me, it means knowledge
> > >production which is open and permeable,
> > >non-traditional, one that invites an audience in to
> > >participate, to become involved, to turn into
> > artists
> > >themselves.
> > >
> > >Researcher/artists can gain a great deal from the
> > >concept of ambiguity as method. "Findings" in the
> > >traditional sense would be sidelined or even
> > banished.
> > > Dissemination would become method. Researchers
> > would
> > >move from the safety of 'knowing' to the
> > uncertainty
> > >of 'not knowing' (Heidegger). Data would return to
> > >its place of importance as resources for
> > explorations
> > >of multiple understandings and keys for further
> > >engagement by wider communities beyond academia.
> > >Knowledge would be constructed socially in a
> > >relational way within a participatory society. The
> > >researcher would become a gatherer, a facilitator,
> > a
> > >curator, a Wizard of Oz. Text would become only one
> > >tool within a toolbox of many instruments. Silence
> > >would be golden.
> > >
> > >I hope that the AHRC puts its money into ambiguity.
> > >
> > >Cheers,
> > >Kip
> > >
> > >Dr Kip Jones
> > >Reader in Qualitative Social Science
> > >Centre for Qualitative Research
> > >Institute of Health & Community Studies
> > >Bournemouth University United Kingdom
> > >*************************
> > >Website: www.kipworld.net
> > >*****************************************
> > >To join the PerformSocSci newsgroup go to:
> >
> >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=performsocsci&A=1
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
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>
>Dr Kip Jones
>Reader in Qualitative Social Science
>Centre for Qualitative Research
>Institute of Health & Community Studies
>Bournemouth University United Kingdom
>*************************
>Website: www.kipworld.net
>*****************************************
>To join the PerformSocSci newsgroup go to:
>http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=performsocsci&A=1
>
>
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